Arch-brick.



I. P. NEFF.

ARCH BRICK. wmcmon mm SEPT H. 191

1,138,033. Patented May 1, 1915.

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JOHN P. NEFF, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOE, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 AMERI' CAN ARCH COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

ARCH-BRICK.

' Application filed September 14, 1913.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN P. NEH", a citi zen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ArchBrick, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to an improved form of brick for use in arches in fire boxes, and particularly to that kind of brick construction which is ordinarily supported upon water tubes or equivalent supporting means.

The first of the objects of my invention is the provision of a brick of the character specified which will with a minimum of material, present a maximum of strength and also a maximum of wearing capacity atthe point where it is most subject to abrasion or bifining action. Another object of my invention is the provision of means whereby in a brick of this character, ready adjustment may be made to supporting tubes of different diameters and spacings.

Another object of my improvement is the provision of a means whereby the brick will be properly held in place if put in position in inverted position.

till another object of my invention is the JIOViSlOD. of a brick of the character speciiied, which, when inserted in inverted posi tion, will fit a larger or different space between adjacent supporting tubes.

Still another object of my invention is the provision of an improved brick of the kind specified in which the thinner points of the brick will be protected by the cooling effect of the water passing through the arch tubes, while the thicker parts will be located just where the fire and wear have the greatest efl'e'ctupon them.

The above, as well as such other objects as may hereinafter appear I obtain by means of a construction which I have illus trated in preferred form in the accompany- Ling drawings wherein Figure 1 shows a couple of bricks made in accordance with my improvement supported upon three arch tubes; Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view through one of the bricks; Fig- 3 is an 'in verted plan section of the bricks made in accordance with my invention; and Fig. 4 is a sectionalwiew taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Referring now more particularly to Fig Specification of Letters E'atent.

Patented May 4, 1915.

Serial No. 649,218.

are 1, it will be seen that I have therein shown three supporting tubes marked 5 with bricks placed there-between marked 6, of which an enlarged representation is given in Fig. 2, wherein it is clear that the thickest part of the material in the intermediate portion of the brick is between the places marked 7, 7, the thinner portions being be tween the places marked 8, 8, this arrangement being secured by forming the pockets or recesses 9 so that they are deeper toward the edge of the brick and shallower near the center and allowing the ridge formation at the center on the lower face of the brick to extend clear across, forming the rib 10. The water tubes lit in at the socketed corners 11 as is clear from examination of Figure 1, and therefore the location of the thinner portions of the brick between 8 and 8 will c more nearly adjacent the water tubes and will have the benefit of the cooling action of the water more than the intermediate portions of the brick, while the intermediate portions of the brick will be thicker and will provide what is substantially a truss form between the two outer edges of the brick or points at which it is supported which gives the brick greater strength and much greater durability since the fire has more effect upon the portion of the brick immediately in the middle than elsewhere, and the middle portion is. also subject to harder wear in every way. The provision of the recesses 9 enables me to get a more uniform and thorough baking of the brick than would be possible without such recesses, and also reduces the quantity of material required to make a brick of given strength. At the point marked 12 I have provided what I call shipping strips or lugs, these being slight projecting parts provided a convenient means for getting an accurate fit of the brick against the tubes, the lugs being chipped oil when necessary in order to make the tube enter the recess in the corner of the brick and these chipping lugs providing a large range for the individual brick, so that one sized brick will fitto a wide range of dimensions.

As will be evident from examination of Fig. 3, I have preferred to place the chipping lug 12 or points of support of the brick inward from the edges, that is, nearer to the middle line, and from this point I have extended a thicker part which is continued as a rib 13, extending clear 301055 the brick' to secure the maximum benefit of the trussing arrangement of the part, and this rib is joined to the side rib 14 by means of curves or fillets 15, which latter serve materially to add to the strength of the structure as a whole.

As a means for providing a proper support for the brick when placed in inverted position, I arrange the shoulder 16 upon the upper side, and these shoulders are placed preferably farther apart than the adjacent lower edges of the under face so that if the brick is to be used between tubes which are spaced farther apart, it can be fitted nicely in place by inverting it in position.

It will be evident from an examination of the construction above described that the improvement specified will allow the refractory .brick to heat up more quickly than it otherwise would,due to the presence of the recesses or depressions and the rib formation and this will secure effective action from the arch as quickly as possible and quicker than would be obtained if the brick wereasolid throughout; and this arrangement will also permit the brick to cool off more rapidly than it otherwise would, which is an important advantage because of the necessity which frequently arises in railroad work es pecially of doing work on the boiler fiues as soon as possible after the locomotive reaches the engine house.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claim as new and I desire to secure by Letters Patent is the following:

1. An arch brick having its lower end corners cut away to provide sockets for receiving supporting tubes, and having its upper end corners also cutaway to provide sockets for receiving supporting tubes, the said sockets at the lower side of the brick being spaced apart a distance different from that between the sockets at the upper side of the brick.

2. An arch brick having its lower end corners beveled for receiving supporting tubes, and having its upper end corners also beveled for receiving supporting tubes, thus rendering the brick reversible, the said beveled portions at the lower end corners being spaced apart a distance different from that between the upper end corners.

3. An arch brick having its lower end corners cut away to provide sockets for receiving supporting tubes with portions for engaging the sides of the tubes, and having its upper end corners also cut away to pro vide sockets for receiving supporting tubes with portions for engaging the sides of the tubes, the said portions of the lower socket: being spaced apart a distance different from that between the said portions of the upper sockets.

4. An arch brick having supporting surfaces at opposite lower edges and supporting surfaces at opposite upper edges, the lower supporting surfaces and the upper supporting surfaces being difierently spaced to accommodate the brick to variations in the distances between tubes.

5. In a locomotive fire box, an arch brick provided with a plurality of recesses in its bottom, forming trussing means comprising a pair of ribs crossing each other adjacent their central portions and an edge rib extending around the bottom of the brick into which the cross ribs merge, the brick being provided at opposite ends with supporting surfaces to engage arch tubes.

6. An arch brick having its lower end corners cut away to receive arch tubes and having shoulder portions or lugs for engaging the sides of the tubes and having its upper end corners also cut away to receive tubes when the brick is inverted and provided also with shoulder portions or lugs to engage the sides'of the tubes.

7. An arch brick having its lower end corners cut away to receive arch tubes and having shoulder portions or lugs for engaging the sides of the tubes and having its upper end corners also cut away to receive tubes when the brick is inverted and provided also with shoulder portions or lugs to engage the sides of the tubes and the bottom of the brick containing recesses adjacent the ends thereof. a

8. The herein described improvement in locomotive fire box arches, comprisingtwo variably spaced fire box arch-tubes in combination with an arch brick invertible thereon, said brick having its lower end corners cut away to fit one spacing of said tubes and having its upper end corners cut away to fit another spacing of said tubes, when the brick is inverted thereon.

9. The herein described improvement in locomotive fire box arches comprising an arch brick the lower end corners of which are cut away to fit between spaced arch tubes and the upper end corners of which are cut away to fit between differently spaced arch tubes, and shoulders being provided on the lower and upper end corners for contact with'the sides of such tubes.

10. The herein described improvement in locomotive fire box arches, comprising an invertible arc-h brick one end of which has its upper and lower corners cut away different distances to fit different arch tubes, the other end of said brick also being formed to fit an arch tube in either position of the brick.

11. The herein described improvement in locomotive lire box arches, comprising an invertible arch brick one end of which. has its upper and lower cornerscut away different distances to lit diil'crt-nt arch tubes and pr vided with shoulders to contact the sides of said tubes, the other end of said brick also being formed to fit an arch tube in either position of the brick.

12. The herein described improvement in locomotive fire box arches, comprising an arch brick having one end socketed to fit an arch tube and having its other end cut away to fit against the upper side of another arch tube and provided with a stop shoulder to contact the side of such tube.

13. The herein described improvement in locomotive fire box arches comprising a rec tangular arch brick having an approximately V-shaped end and provided with arch-tube shoulders at both inner margins, said shoulders being at different distances from the opposite end of the brick.

14. The herein described improvement in locomotive fire box arches, comprising a substantially rectangular arch brick having two opposite substantially identical ends each provided with oppositely inclined arclrtube faces of differing dimensions whereby the brick is adapted to span and rest upon var'r ously spaced arch tubes.

15. The herein described improvement in locomotive fire box arches comprising an invertible arch-brick composed of refractory material, and having one of its arch tube engaging ends formed with two tube bearing surfaces one on the top and one on the bottom of the brick and one beyond the other, for the purposes described.

16. A locomotive arch-brick composed of refractory material and on one of its archtube engaging ends provided with upper and lower oppositely inclined tube bearing surfaces each bordered by a stop shoulder adapted to limit the movement of the brick between its arch tubes.

17. The herein described improvement in locomotive fire box arches, comprising a substantially rectangular arch brick having its ends formed to rest upon spaced arch tubes, the lower part of said brick containing recesses positioned near the ends thereof and having bottoms directed toward and which merge with the bottom of the brick near the middle thereof, for the purposes described.

18. The herein described improvement in locomotive fire box arches, comprisin an arch brick having top and bottom sur aces that are substantially parallel and having ends shaped to fit spaced arch tubes, said brick containing a plurality of spaced rccesses opening through the bottom of the brick, having bottoms which merge with the bottom of the brick near the middle thereof, for the purposes described.

In, testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of the two subscribed witnesses.

JOHN P. NEFR.

\Vitnesses JANE G. DAVRON, F. W. TURNER. 

